The Streets of Yokohama
by shikakku
Summary: What if Atsushi had never found Dazai floating down the river? On the brink of starvation and out of options, Atsushi joins the Port Mafia. Fueled by hatred, Chuuya has vowed to get his revenge against Dazai, and Atsushi will be the first soldier deployed. A war is about to break out, but this time, the hero is on the wrong side.
1. chapter 1

**The Streets of Yokohama**

As I raced down the dark alley, hands red with the blood of an innocent girl, my thoughts were on the _Ochazuke_ I ate when I snuck into the orphanage´s kitchen. Lots of tea, dried plum mince, dried seaweed, chicken leftover from dinner. I couldn´t help but think about how delicious it was, even as my breath became ragged and my legs ached from all the running, even as her face flashed before my eyes, I thought of the warm bowl and the soft food in my mouth. I thought about how nice it would be to stay frozen in that moment.

" _Onii-san_ " A girl´s voice woke me up from my fantasy. "I think there´s something here" She was definitely close.

"We should wait for Dazai, Naomi" Somebody answered her. "This person is dangerous."

I ran with renewed speed, adrenaline pumping through my body, and… a death end. Just then I realized that my hands were dripping, they´d been leaving a scarlet trail behind me.

My legs gave out. That was it: This time I´d definitely been caught.

"Hello Tiger" Now, this was a voice I´d recognize anywhere, the playful sound I´d even dreamt about. There was no need to turn around, I already knew he was smiling. This was the man covered in bandages: Dazai. They were here.

In this world there is rarely a good reason, an actually _good_ reason to do anything at all. Still, people always have something to say when asked why. Because the dog ate their homework, or maybe their parents wouldn´t let them; excuses come in all shapes and sizes, and the ones that are actually big enough to explain something tend to be lies.

Despite everything I´ve done and the people I´ve associated myself with, I like to believe "I was on the brink of starvation" is a fairly good excuse. Let´s see what the Armed Detective Agency thinks about it, or even if they´ll hear my story.

But this is how it began: a sunny day by the side of a river, the day I ran until I was face to face with the sea.

The day I found the Port Mafia.

That time I was sure hunger would be the dead of me, because my cowardly nature prevented me from stealing and there was no job to be found for a scorned orphan, my fate was sealed. _You have to steal to survive._ The voice inside my head was right of course, but my nerves always got the best of me. Stealing was _wrong_ , besides, I was not skilled at anything so I would definitely get caught and my life really would be over.

Just as I was building up my courage, a group of militaries passed by and my heart started racing. It´s not like I was doing anything illegal at the time, but a horrible certainty that they _knew_ came over me. People like that could probably smell a criminal from miles away, and with my worm clothes and skinny arms I was certain they´d recognize me as one. I fled, even though they never even looked my way.

I fled.

The salty smell of the ocean of the ocean gradually became stronger, a soft breeze cooled the air around me. I was at the docks, and the sound of the waves was a bit comforting, nevertheless, the sun was setting and I had nowhere to go, but surely one of the warehouses lining the docks had to be empty. A single ray of moonlight peeked from behind the buildings, and then, the last thing I remember before blacking out is the sound of footsteps approaching.

The story gets really weird now: I woke up floating.

My hands looked for something to lean on in order in order to push me up, but there was only air. I gasped as soon as I noticed the floor was a couple of meters away.

"Ah, so you´re finally back boy" I looked down to find a man with orange hair wearing a black hat with a red band and a thin silver chain hanging over its brim. He was standing amidst a lot of broken boxes and destruction "You damaged quite a bit of our precious cargo."

"Wh-Who are you?" My voice was shaking, How would anyone take me seriously like that? "What´s going on?"

"You don´t even know, do you?" He sounded tired, a bit angry, and potentially dangerous. With a single flicker of his hand I was falling. The impact sent a wave of shock all through my body. I´d heard of people with supernatural abilities but this was nerve-racking. "You still have to pay for all of this, one way or another."

"I-I don´t have any money."

"Then through labor." He knelt down so that our eyes would meet. "I could give you food and shelter, and then, when you´ve covered the expenses of your little tantrum, fair payment."

"What kind of job are you talking about?" There was absolutely no way that all of this was real. Levitation? A job? When I looked down I found that my hand was not my hand at all, it looked like a tiger´s paw. _The man eating tiger_. It moved in sync with my thoughts, and the realization soon hit me. I´d turned into a beast beneath the moonlight. I screamed in surprise, he laughed in delight.

"So you really didn´t know." He stood up and turned his back on me. "It doesn´t look like you´re in a situation to choose any kind of job, kid."

That much was true. At this point it was either following this man or dying. So I stood up. "My name is Nakajima Atsushi." I said. "p-please take care of me."

"I´m Nakahara Chuuya" The redheaded man started walking away, "Welcome to the Port Mafia." And I followed him.

Now, facing the end, I wonder what would´ve happened if I had just stayed by the river.

Maybe starvation would´ve won. Or maybe, just maybe, my luck would´ve changed a little bit. Just enough to clean my hands. But alas, the streets of Yokohama are merciless.

 **Hello Internet!**

 **This is my first fanfic ever (scary :S) so any feedback would be super appreciated. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter and I´ll try to update soon.**

 **-Shikkaku**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Seven Billion Reasons

"What if I win?"  
I am not going down. I am not going to be taken out by my own employers. I am not going to lose to this. "What if I bring the Port Mafia something more valuable than the bounty?"  
My name is Nakajima Atsushi, and due to a series of events, I ended up working for the Port Mafia, an organization that is linked to almost every aspect of Yokohama: from politics, to economy, they are everywhere. Needless to say, they don´t run their business on a strictly "legal" way. I was rescued from starvation by a man named Nakahara Chuuya, who happens to be an executive on the organization. I´m not really sure what that means, Nakahara-san just seems to order people around and get angry. Constantly. I´m not sure what my job is either: so far I´ve been sent to guard cargo and run errands for higher-ranking members of the Mafia. Nothing too suspicious of course, this might even be a comfortable job if it weren´t for the gun. After giving me food and water, after giving me a roof to sleep under and a bed to lay at night, after making me feel safe, Nakahara Chuuya gave me a gun.  
I don´t know how to feel about him, or the organization, but for now, remaining alive is enough.  
Everywhere I go disaster follows. At least that´s what I used to think, but apparently I turn into a white tiger whenever moonlight hits me (makes me sound more like a werewolf but I swear it´s the truth) There was nothing following me, I was disaster all along. Thanks to the Mafia I now have some control over it. I still find it really hard to remain in human form at night but at least I can transform at will (sometimes) and I can even remember what happens when I transform.  
I´m not claiming that it´s easy being here, the only reason I learned to control my ability was because my life was put in risk (by my own superiors) more than once. Nakahara-san himself pointed a gun at me (and fired said gun) at least three times. I don´t think he´d do it if I wasn´t capable of doing what I do, at least that´s what I want to believe. I want to trust the person that saved me.  
Akutagawa-senpai though, that _is_ person to fear. Akutagawa is also an ability user, a very powerful one too. He can control his coat, which may sound a bit ridiculous but do not, I repeat _do not_ make fun of it. When he is using _Rashomon_ , it becomes a ferocious shadow, sharp, strong, impenetrable. Sometimes it seems to me like he was born to kill. He is in no way stronger than Nakahara-san, but he is much more violent, probably a little bit, ummm, I don´t want to say crazy but... With Nakahara-san at least I can be certain that he won´t kill me unless he has a reason to, but when working with Akutagawa-senpai I fully depend on his mood. Which is not good at all.  
I grew into a routine inside the Mafia pretty soon: training, following Nakahara-san around until he has a job for me, doing the job, and then going home to sleep. I never asked too much and people only told me what I needed to know, I thought that if I kept going like that nothing too big would ever be required of me and I could stay away from violent jobs. That is, until the bounty.  
Somebody was offering seven billion yen in exchange for me.  
That´s seven billion reasons for the Mafia to get rid of me.  
It didn´t take long for people to turn on me once the bounty was offered, and I knew Nakahara´s loyalties were first and foremost with the Mafia but even before I could fully consider running away, I was cornered. That day, somebody sent me to a warehouse by the ports where Nakahara-san had first found me, supposedly to aid in the transportation of some valuable cargo, but as soon as I walked in, the doors behind me closed, and Akutagawa was wainting for me.  
"I was sent to pick you up, were tiger." That was probably the first time I saw any emoton at all in Akutagawa´s eyes. He was agitated, I could see danger in them. The Mafia had sent him for me, they were going to trade me for the bounty.  
"Akutagawa-senpai." I tried to remain calm. "Surely you understand that nobody willing to pay that much for somebody has any good intentions right?"  
"And surely," He said "you´ve realized that the Mafia´s intentions are only good when it benefits us." He put a hand to his mouth, as he usually does when coughing. (which is constantly) "Rashomon" His cloack came to life and adrenaline rushed through my body. I had to fight back. My hands turned into paws, but Rashomon was too strong, too fast, as soon as I managed to sidestep a sharp shadow, another attack was already on the way. If only I could get closer...  
Once I was stabbed for the first time, the shadows just kept coming, I lost my balance and soon there was a piece of Rashomon piercing me from every direction. He was going to pin me against the wall. _No, It will all be over if he does_ with a surge of strength, I managed to pull myself free and get close enough to Akutagawa to send him flying back with a punch.  
My victory was short lived, without even fully standing up, he managed to stab me with Rashomon in the stomach and started to approach.  
"They want you alive, weretiger." He wispered, wrapping his fingers around my neck. "So don´t make this any harder than it has to be."  
"Aku-Akutaga" breathing was becoming harder and harder, "Akutagawa-senpai." Just when I thought I couldn´t take it anymore, a ray of sunlight hit me. The doors had been opened and Nakahara-san strode in.  
"I thought I was at least going to be informed if my subordinate was being sent away you know." He sounded as unpreoccupied as always, even a little bit playful. "Oi, brat, are you going to drag my name through the mud after I went through all the trouble of training you?" Akutagawa´s grip loosened a bit, that was enough. That time I did manage to stand against Akutagawa senpai a bit more, but at the end we were the same: me cornered, him choking me. Not an ideal situation.  
"You are still too slow, Atsushi." said Nakahara-san. "If you managed to fully control your transformations then maybe you´d stand a chance against Akutagawa, but as things are right now you are no match for anybody."  
"Nakahara-san" maybe I could negotiate with him. "Please don´t send me away. "Why wouldn´t I?" He asked. "Give a good reason not to claim the bounty."  
"Isn´t it suspicious that a foreign organization offered that much money for me in the first place?" I asked" It´s true that I am wanted by the government too, but they know almost nothing about me. They don´t even realize that the man-eating tiger is a human. How did they know to offer the money to the Mafia in the first place? Something is just not right."  
"One way or another, money is still money." He said, "So convince me, Atsushi."  
"I can make myself useful."  
"Akutagawa´s hands tightened against neck."What could someone like you possibly do for the Mafia?"  
"I have to agree with Akutagawa here." Nakahara-san took a few steps towards us. "What can an errand boy do for the organization?"  
It´s not that I had any reason to want to stay there so badly, but somewhere inside me, there was an urgency not to leave. A desire to stay well fed and clothed and warm, an anger towards the people who´d casted me out. All my life I had tried to do good things. To _be_ good, and I´d ended up a starving orphan. So far the world hadn´t shown me any reason to follow the rules and be a model citizen, it was just something I thought I had to do. But what if I didn´t? What could I possibly owe the world?  
"Anything" I answered "I can learn to control this power, and I can do whatever the Mafia needs of me."  
Nakahara-san smiled. "Is that so?" "Akutagawa, let him go."  
"Eeh?" he was still hlding me in place. "What can he possibly do that´s worth more than 7 billion yen?"  
"Akutagawa." They looked at each other defiantly, until Akutagawa finally dropped his gaze and let me go.  
"I´ll be leaving now" he looked at Nakahara-san once again. " _sir_ " There was poison in his words, but Nakahara-san didn´t seem bothered at all.  
Once he was gone, Nakahara-san came to stand in front of me.  
"You are still too weak" He said "I should´ve let him kill you."  
"He never intended to kill me."  
"Don´t get smart with me brat." He looked happy about something. Was he planning this from the beginning?  
"You said you´d do anything, didn´t you?"  
The full weight of my promise hit me just then. "Yes." Would they ask me to steal? To kill somebody?  
"Then here is your first real job."

 **Hello, Shikakku here:**

 **There was something wrong with this with the formatting on this chapter and it was impossible to read, so I have corrected it. Sorry to anyone who had any problems with it.**

 **Anyways, I´m having a lot of fun with this and the story is already shaping up.**

 **Thank you very much for stopping by!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Dressed in Grey**

"Then here is your first real job." Nakahara´s grin promised danger. "And it´s an important one so pay attention brat." He paced back and forth, gathering his thoughts. "I used to have a partner you know? An idiot named Dazai who wraps himself in bandages and goes on and on about suicide."

"I've never heard of anyone like that inside the organization before."

"That's because he's not part of the Port Mafia anymore." What struck me as weird was the fact that this man was being talked about in present tense, was he not dead? _Can people really leave this organization alive?_

"Despite his appearance appearance, Dazai is actually intelligent and very dangerous. Obviously he also has a lot of intel and knows our tactics." _Oh god,_ was I going to be sent as an assassin. "Since he joined the Armed Detective Agency we can't operate freely, but because his ability can be necessary sometimes The Mafia hasn´t gone after him in earnest."

"Then what´s changed?" I asked.

"There's a rumor that a pair of ability users known as the Unnamed brothers, have entered Yokohama following after the man-eating tiger."

"M-me?" _Stupid Question_

"Do you know of another tiger roaming freely through Japan?!" Somehow it was a bit harder to take Nakahara-san seriously when he got so riled up.

"Right, sorry."

"The Unnamed brothers are in possession of a very powerful book." He continued. "If the Mafia acquired it we could keep tabs on every ability user on the country, predict the future, nullify abilities, even materialize dreams. Or so the stories go."

 _No way_. I was shocked. "If such a powerful artifact really exists then the brothers would be in control of the city, no, the country, by now, Wouldn't they!?"

"No one really understands their objectives: they have no allegiance, no noticeable goals; they have the power, and yet strike only when in need. They are unpredictable and almost impossible to find. Still, the boss has a plan to retrieve the book."

"But what does Dazai have to do with this."

"If the Mafia has heard of the brothers´arrival then the Detective Agency surely has too." Things were starting to make sense.

"In other words." Fear was starting to build up inside of me, fear and a certain excitement. "As long as Dazai is part of an opposing organization the boss's plans might be stopped anytime."

"Exactly" he laughed. "You're keeping up, brat. Dazai is an inconvenience we can no longer afford to tolerate." "The Agency doesn't know about you yet and wouldn't it be convenient if they suddenly found a certain wanted tiger?"

"I-I have to give myself in?" Somehow that didn't sound much better than being exchanged for the seven billion yen

"Relax, kid." He sounded a exasperated. "The Agency doesn't really belong to the State, and they have a tendency to help _misunderstood_ ability users. So if you show yourself heroic and selfless they'll take you in and have the charges against you dropped."

 _Heroic and selfless doesn't really sound like me though._

"I am under no illusion that you'd be able to take down Dazai, so your mission is to infiltrate the agency and retrieve the book, I´ll deal with that idiot myself." "Any questions?"

"When do I start?"

…...

I left my black clothes behind along with the Mafia, so dressed all in grey, with my old orphanage clothes (which had suspiciously not been thrown away), I walked towards the Armed Detective Agency. Had Nakahara-san planned this from the beginning? It seemed impossible that everything was aligning itself so perfectly to the Port Mafia´s plan.

I was reminded of the weeks I roamed around before I was finally found by Nakahara-san in the docks. The long walks, the harsh material of the orphanage-issued clothes biting into my skin, the dehydration and how drowsy it made me feel, and just as the feeling of hunger was starting to creep into my stomach, I found the building I had been told about. _This is it, the Armed Detective Agency._

My whole body tensed up, I took a deep breath and opened the door to find...a restaurant.

 _Maybe this isn't it after all._

Part of me felt relieved, but most of me was panicking. I had been sent here with no way to communicate with Nakahara-san until the agent was sent, which was not happening in three days or so. If I was in the wrong place then how would I find the right one? Besides, the smell of food was making my mouth water and seriously distracting me. _I have to find a way to…_

And then I saw him, a man with brown hair and a trench coat, there was nothing too notorious about him but what caught my attention was the bandages creeping up his arms. _Dazai._

He was walking next to a tall blond man who seemed really bothered about something. "I had to drag you out of a river just a few days ago and now this!"

"Kunikida-kun" Dazai dragged out the vowels as he spoke, clearly teasing the other man. "It's all in the name of camaraderie."

"Tch," Answered the blond man. "Next time I'll let you die you bandage wasting machine!"

"Bandage Wasting Machine?!"

 _Are these two really members of a dangerous organization?_

They headed over to a table and then sat down. _This is my chance, I have to approach._

"Excuse me." They both turned their heads in my direction at the same time. "Do you…" What was I supposed to say? How was I supposed to say it. "Are you...?" If I appear to know too much they'll catch me. "Do you know where I can find the Armed Detective Agency?"

The blond man pulled out an i.d _Kunikida Doppo_ he was a member of The Armed Detective Agency. "We belong to it."

"So what can we help you with, boy?" Said Dazai happily.

"I-I know where the man-eating Tiger is." They looked intrigued.

"The man eating tiger you say?"

"Y-yes, he´s here." Acting flustered was not hard at all. "Please help me!" I was getting agitated and my voice became high pitched

Kunikida stood up in a hurry, Dazai followed lazily. "So work isn´t over yet, Kunikida-kun."

"Explain what's going on." Kunikida told me. "calmly."

"My name is Atsushi." I said. "Nakajima Atsushi, and I am the man eating tiger.". "I- I don't want to hurt anybody so please help me."

"Huh?" Dazai´s brown eyes shone red under the restaurant´s lights, and for a second I could see the dangerous man Nakahara-san had told me about. _This is not somebody I want to mess with._

Nevertheless, I have a mission, in order to make sure the Mafia gets powerful enough to break free of the Detective Agency´s grip I have to create mayhem from the inside: _Infiltrate the agency and retrieve the book._ All according to the boss's plan.

 **Hello Again, Shikkaku here.**

 **This chapter was mostly dialogue but I hope you enjoyed it anyway. I´m going to be very busy for the rest of the semester but I´ll try my best to update frequently. Thank you everyone that's been reading these three chapters, specially** Sakura245 **for the reviewing and encouragement.**

 **See you on chapter four!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: No Longer Human**

 _Without proper control of my ability and barely any combat training at all, I´m probably the weakest member of the Port Mafia right now._

I clenched my fists trying to keep my hands from shaking. Standing in front of me were two members of the Armed Detective Agency, a famed organization composed of powerful ability users that dealt with situations the military police was unable to handle. As if that weren't dangerous enough, I had just confessed to being a wanted criminal.

"Is that a threat?" The man that spoke was Kunikida. At the moment this is what I knew about him: He was (clearly) taller than me, he was experienced in fighting much more powerful enemies than me, and on top of that, he had an ability I knew nothing about. But most importantly, he was holding a gun.

"Sounds more like a plea to me, Kunikida-kun." That voice belonged to Dazai, Nakahara's former partner and current enemy, the man that was single-handedly holding the Mafia back. Dazai was (not so clearly but certainly noticeably) taller than me and he had bandages crawling up his arms and all the way to his neck, which I found a little unnerving to be honest. What had he been through? What had he done?

"I didn't mean to destroy anything or harm anybody." _This much is true, they have to believe me, they have to…_ "I don't control when it happens, I don't even _know_ when it happens. At first I thought the tiger was following me but now…"

"If you have no recollection of these transformations." Kunikida was calmer now, at least he wasn't holding so tightly to his gun anymore. "Then how do you know you are the tiger?"

"Somebody saw it, when the moon…" It had gotten darker inside the diner, Was it night already? If I suddenly turned into a tiger, things could go wrong, Kunikida could shot me, Dazai could… "When did the sun go down?" Then I noticed a waitress, calmly cleaning a table. _There are other people here, this time I really might hurt somebody. The mission, I have to…_ I was thinking about everything Nakahara-san had done from me since the day he found me, I swear I was, but as soon as the moon began to peak into the restaurant, I ran.

The idea of being killed scared me, but the idea of killing somebody was somehow even worse. _I won't be able to do it. I won't be able to complete the mission._

The change wasn't always pleasant, when I was aware of it, my body ached all over as I transformed into a beast. I could feel it, even before reaching the door, I could feel the bones morphing and tearing into my skin harder the more I tried to resist. _I have to get out before I lose it._ Even after everything the Mafia has done for me, my thoughts in that moment were that I didn't want to be the reason people got hurt. It was stupid, and a little bit selfish, but my mind was wholly consumed by this thought.

"Wait a minute!" I heard Kunikida voice, but as soon as I managed to run past the restaurant doors, I transformed. The legs I was running with turned into paws. This time, however, I managed to remain somewhat conscious even after becoming a tiger. My senses were sharper and my speed was grater.

"Oi, Atsushi-kun" I turned around to the sound of a familiar voice. Where had I heard it before? There was a man with brown hair and brown eyes approaching. Who was he? What did he want from me? I growled tentatively, he was getting too close.

The man extended one of his hands towards me, why was he wearing bandages? My heart began to move faster, and then, I pounced over him.

He avoided me with ease, calmly sidestepping. "Impressive." He sounded amused. "You could easily break a person's neck." I jumped again, this time he didn't move. I wanted to kill him, his presence scared me, but at the same time some part of me was screaming _I don_ ' _t want to hurt you so please!_ "Being killed by a beast isn't a horrible ending, however..." He wasn't moving, why wasn't he moving? "You won't be able to kill me." Just when killing him seemed inevitable, he touched my face lightly. "My ability is to dispel others' abilities just by touching them: No Longer Human."

And just like that, with a single touch of his fingers, I was back to myself. I fell into him, _Dazai,_ the man who could stop any ability with his bare hands. It made sense now why the book changed the stakes; as things were right now, The Mafia could need Dazai´s ability someday to stop a particularly dangerous individual, but if the book could replace Dazai in nuliffing abilities, then he was no longer useful.

"I have no such tastes in men." He said before dropping me out of his arms, luckily I managed to steady myself before falling into the concrete of the street.

Kunikida walked out of the restaurant with a group of people trailing him. Amongst them was a tall woman who glanced towards me and then Dazai back and ford.

"What's going on?"

"Fufufu, don't worry about it. I already dealt with the situation"

"What, there's no one injured? How boring" _Boring, she says? There_ 's _something wrong with these people._

"This is Nakajima Atsushi-kun" Dazai explained. "and he is the man-eating tiger."

A young boy from the group spoke up. He was wearing a hat, so maybe Nakahara-san would would have liked him, then again, he was part of the Armed Detective Agency, so maybe not. "But what'll we do with him? He wasn't even conscious right?"

I was frozen in place. Should I run? Should I stay? No option seemed logical.

"What will you do, Dazai?" Asked Kunikida. _How can they decide on a person's fate so calmly._

"The truth is, I´ve already decided." He answered. _He is going to lock me up, just like they did in the orphanage. He is going to kill me._ He glanced at me, but I couldn't read anything in his expression. "He'll join our company."

"Huh?" I asked in unison with the rest of the Agency's members.

"Come on Atsushi-kun" He said to me. "The Agency is on the second floor."

I followed the rest of them into the building, but right before walking through the restaurant's door, a shadow caught me attention.

 _Is it a person? No, wait, there_ ' _s two of them._ Nakahara-san had told me that the brothers came to Yokohama following me, could it possibly be them?

"Atsushi-kun" Kunikida's voice called from inside the building.

"Y-yes" I answered. "I'll be there in a minute"

As I climbed up the stairs of the building, my mind was on the shadows. The brothers, _the book,_ might have been closer to me than I'd thought.

 **Hello internet!**

 **November is here so let's celebrate with a new chapter.**

 **If any of the grammar or spelling seem off, it's probably because I'm writing this during breaks and really late at night (the rest of my life is a constant cycle of homework, crying, and trying to enjoy any free time I get by sleeping) Even if you just want to rant, feedback and reviews are always welcome.**

 **Hope you enjoyed, Shikkaku.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: The Girl in the Red Kimono**

" _Once upon a time there was lonely little girl who lost everyone she ever loved, she was taken in by a group of people willing to let her live, and there was nothing that she would not do when orders were given. Once she was given a little riding hood of red silk, which suited her so well that she would never wear anything else; so she was always called 'Little Red Riding Hood_ ' _."_

" _Will you listen to a dead girl_ ' _s story"_ Where is the voice coming from? _Everything around me was darkness,_ Where am I? _I ran in circles, trying to find a way out._ Light, there´s light ahead.

 _Regardless of how much I ran, the exit remained unreachable, but somehow, the darkness was fading away. I ran and ran until two figures appeared before me. "Who are you?" I asked._

" _If we ever had names, they burned away with the first book." They spoke with a single voice, they looked like reflections of one another, they even moved in perfect synchrony. The only difference between them was that one of them had burn marks running through half of his face. "They call us Grimm because of the grim tales we have to tell."_

Book, could they possibly be?

" _You might have heard of us as the unnamed brothers"._ What's going on? " _If you want to find our book you must listen to the death girl_ ' _s tale."_

" _I will, so please…" But they were already fading away._

" _The girl in red silk will guide you to us."_

I woke up to the sound of ringing.

 _Where am I? Where_ ' _s the orphanage_ ' _s wake up alarm? The early morning call?_

Then I remembered.

It's hard to say for sure, but I don't think I ever made it inside the Armed Detective Agency's headquarters. Transformations are incredibly draining, specially when I lose control like that night, so I probably passed out and was brought here.

Then the ringing? _A phone!_ It took me a while to find the right button, but I managed. "H-Hello?"

"Atsushi-kun." It was Dazai´s voice, "How´s your lodging, did you get a good night sleep?" I looked around and dared to dream, just for a moment, that the small cozy apartment I was in could be permanent. "Thanks to you I have such a great place to live now." I breathed in the smell of the wooden floor and felt genuinely happy. _Stupid_.

"That's great." He answered energetically. "By the way, I have a favour to ask."

"Yes."

"I'm dying, help me."

The people from the Armed Detective Agency left me a change of clothes: A white button up which I rolled up past my elbows, a loose black tie, black pants, black fingerless gloves and suspenders. It was an interesting change from the all-black wardrobe I had in the Mafia.

So dressed in my new clothes and ready to infiltrate the Agency, I started my day by saving Dazai-san from an unfortunate suicide attempt.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

As if pulling a man out of a barrel first thing in the morning wasn't strange enough, my day got even weirder. We had to deal with a bomb, a grudge and a hostage situation, all before lunch time.

A read-headed boy, not much older than me, had a bomb ready to denote inside the Agency and was insisted on talking with the Boss. Unfortunately, the boss was not in town and the Agents couldn't attack him because he was holding a young girl by the neck.

I was hiding with Kunikida-san and Dazai-san, who were trying to find the best course of action. "If we could cover the bomb somehow then maybe the detonation wouldn't be so damaging."

"We need to approach first, Dazai." There was a note of urgency, for obvious reasons, in Kunikida´s voice.

"Then, Kunikida. One of us will have to face him." How could Dazai-san remain so calm even in a situation like this? "You know how to settle this."

They turned their hands into fists. _Are they going to fight?_ And then…

"Rock, paper, scissors"

 _This place is unbelievable._

At the end Kunikida-san lost and had to go to the bomber, unfortunately, the red-headed boy seemed to know about his ability and made him let go of the green notebook he always carried.

Dazai sighted. "Kunikida´s ability, Lone poet, makes objects written on the papers of his notebook come into existence."

"So without his notebook…"

"Yes, he won´t be of much use." He looked at me. "Apparently he knows about us," A slow smile creeped into his face. "but that doesn't mean he knows anything about you."

At first I tried to talk the boy out of detonating the bomb. Yes, life could be hard, but even at our lowest we can try our best, we can live honest lives (not that meaningful coming from somebody like me), I told him to let the girl go and look for an honest job with me, I tried to convince him not to end up like me, it didn't work so well but at the end Kunikida-san managed to apprehend him.

It wasn't truly a victory, though, because the bomb was still going to blow.

 _Something to cover the bomb with, There has to be something to cover the bomb with!_ Then it occured to me that the lives of everyone in the building were important. These people risked themselves everyday to save others, they were honest and hardworking. It occured to me that maybe what I'd been told in the orphanage was a lie, maybe I wasn't worthless after all, maybe I could prove it; by saving people just this once. It occured to me that if the bomb went off then I was going to die with them anyway. And so it occured to me, that I could cover the bomb with my body.

It kept ticking beneath me. I closed my eyes, bracing myself for the explosion, feeling guilty about betraying the man who had saved me like this. But even as the counter came to a stop, the bomb never did go off.

It had all been an entrance exam, apparently, even the red-headed boy, Junichirou Tanizaki, turned out to be a member of the agency. The boss, Yukichi Fukuzawa, showed up. I was in. I´d made it.

I tried to convince myself that what I did was just to get in. Of course I didn't care about this people, obviously I still wanted to help Nakahara-san the same way he'd done for me, of course...

 _It_ ' _s not like I could ever belong to a place like this._

Tanizaki kept apologizing for causing trouble even if it had all been part of the test. I looked out the window, unable to face him. _Please don_ ' _t be so kind to me._

Why were they helping me? What good had I ever done for anyone?

 _Please_

Then I saw her, a young girl in a red kimono walking down the street.

"Could you excuse for a second?" I said before running out the door. _The girl in red silk will guide you to us_. I found her, but before I could call out to her, she turned towards me and ran, lightly bumping into my shoulder before going away.

I felt something on my hand. It was a small piece of paper folded neatly. _Tomorrow_ it said in Nakahara´s handwriting.

The Port Mafia was coming.

When I tried to put the note in my pocket, I felt something else. A soft, bigger, sheet of paper. I pulled it out to find a page that had clearly been torn out of a book.

The paper had a slightly silver coloring and shone in a way I had never seen before. At the top, written in careful black calligraphy was the title of a children's story.

 _'Little Red Riding Hood_ '

I didn't know it at that time, but what I was holding between my fingers, was a death sentence.

 **Hello!**

 **The "Dead Apple" trailer came out yesterday and I just felt like I had to write a new chapter.**

 **Thank you for reading this far, and to the Guest who sent in a review last chapter: Thank you very much! I love hearing your thoughts so if anyone has any comments or suggestions or just wants to fangirl over bsd, please reach out to me. See you next chapter!**

 **-Shikkaku**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Dead end**

The story began exactly like it did in my dream, with a little girl dressed in red. I kept reading, temporarily forgetting about the people waiting for me in the Agency.

 _Her victim lived out in the city, half a league from the village, and just as Little Red Riding Hood entered the city, a tiger met her. Red Riding Hood did not know what a wicked creature he was, and was not at all afraid of him._

 _'Good day, Little Red Riding Hood,' said he._

 _'Thank you kindly, tiger.'_

 _'Whither away so early, Little Red Riding Hood?'_

 _'To the traitor's.'_

 _'What have you got in your apron?'_

 _'A bunny and a knife; yesterday was purge-day, so poor sick boss is to have something good, to make him stronger.'_

"Atsushi-kun" Tanizaki called after me. "Are you alright?"

I folded the page in a rush and put it back in my pocket. "Yes." My voice sounded unnatural, _Relax_ "I just…". "I thought I saw somebody I know."

"Is that so?" His oversized sweater made him look slimmer, but underestimating any member of the Agency would be a mistake. "Where do you come from?"

 _Act natural._ "An orphanage." Looking directly at his hazel colored eyes made it impossible to lie. _He legitimately wants to help me, he is trying and I'm going to betray him._ "It's not even in Yokohama, so I was very surprised."

"I see." He nodded, not even doubting my story.

"Sorry for running out of the Agency like that." I rubbed the back of my head. "I didn't mean to alarm anyone."

"You have no need to apologize after what we just put you through." He looked a bit uncomfortable, but maybe that was just his personality. "In any case it is us that should do it."

 _You have no need to apologize after everything I will put you through_

Considering the tiger in the story and the girl I that had given me the note, I was already convinced that the fairytale was somehow related to the Port Mafia, but with just one page at hand there was no way to tell how this story would end.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-..-..-

I walked into the restaurant with Tanizaki-kun and found Kunikida-san, Dazai-san and the girl who had been held hostage by Tanizaki already sitting at a table.

"Onii-chan" The girl called cheerfully and waved us over.

"That's my sister, Naomi." Tanizaki explained

On the brief fifteen minutes we stayed in the table, Naomi threw herself over Tanizaki-kun in a very unsister-like way, Dazai-san asked a waitress to choke him in a solicitous manner, Kunikida-san made a scene while warning me _not_ to make a scene and I discovered he actually used to work as a math teacher. _Poor children._

But Tanizaki´s phone rang and we were called to the agency to attend to a request.

When we walked in, there was a blonde girl in a dark suit sitting patiently. She was probably in her 20´s and looked fairly tall, her hair was carefully brushed, but despite the fact she wasn't wearing her usual bun, I recognized her immediately. _Higuchi-san._

 _So they finally showed up._

She didn't look dazed at all by the sight of me, and I tried not to appear surprised, everyone else was too concentrated on her to notice.

"Let's see an investigation request, right?" Tanizaki-kun was taking notes in a clipboard. "And…"  
"Beautiful." Dazai-san suddenly interrupted him and took Higuchi's hand. "As delicate as a flower and elegant as a princess." He looked up at her with a dreamy expression.

"Huh!?" She was, of course, taken aback.

"Would you like to commit a lover's suicide with me?"

"W-W-W-What!?" Answered Higuchi, at which point Kunikida decided to intervene and swat Dazai in the head.

"Please forget about that."

The exchange seemed pretty normal, well, normal in terms of The Detective Agency, but from my vantage point it seemed Dazai had slipped something into Higuchi's pocket. _How could he see through her so easily?_ More importantly, if it was a tracking device or a recorder of sorts, I couldn't risk any contact with her

Higuchi-san was in the Agency under the pretense of reporting a group of smugglers, and since the job seemed fairly easy, Kunikida-san decided to send me on my first job as a detective with Tanizaki-kun, then, Naomi energetically chose to tag along.

Kunikida-san sent us off with a warning: "Stay away from him. If you ever meet him, run." He showed us a photo. It was Akutagawa-senpai. "He is the dog of the brutal port mafia that owns the harbour." "Even I lost in a fight to him."

If he only knew our current client was his most loyal subordinate.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

My breathing quickened as soon as I realized where Higuchi was taking us, I´d been sent there for jobs before, it was an alley with a dead end. So either Akutagawa was going to have a go at me again, or they were planning on gradually taking out members of the agency while establishing contact with me. _If I survive this and both Naomi-san and Tanizaki-kun get taken out it_ ' _ll be way too suspicious._

"Are you worried?" Tanizaki-kun spoke in a gentle tone. Caring for people seemed to come naturally to him.

"Dangerous Mafia, we're all going to die." _What am I saying?_ "We've gotten ourselves in a dangerous situation." _I dragged you into this._

"Now,now" Tanizaki smiled shyly. " "It'll be fine since I'm with you."

"Onii-chan´s ability is awesome" Naomi pitched in. "I love it." _I can_ ' _t let them die._

"Taizaki-kun." _I_ ' _m doing this for the sake of my cover,_ "Naomi-san, watch out, she has a gun!" I hadn't seen it yet, but with Higuchi-san there was _always_ a gun.

Higuchi turned around abruptly and pulled two automatic guns.

"For the sake of our boss." She said, "I'll gladly kill you right here." Then she opened fire.

If we'd entered the alley, all of us would've been taken out, but as things were only Naomi-san got hit, and that's because she tried to shield Tanizaki with her body.

In that moment, Tanizaki´s personality completely changed. "How dare a mere Mafia hurt Naomi?" his voice sounded nothing like before, it carried venom and promised revenge. "Light snow."

And it actually started snowing, not even close to winter.

"Atsushi-kun" He said. "Take cover inside. Leave this bitch to me."

Higuchi fired at Tanizaki, nut the bullets went right through him.

"My light snow shall turn this snow filled space into a smoke screen." Tanizaki appeared behind Higuchi-san and started choking her, then I saw Akutagawa-senpai approaching from behind. Things were getting out of hand.

I had to find a way to save both Higuchi-san and Tanizaki-kun, keep Akutagawa-senpai from going mad and killing all of us, not breaking my cover, and slipping a message to Nakahara-san without alerting the members of the agency, all before Dazai-san showed up and this thing ignited for real.

 **Hello everybody,**

 **I noticed some people from Japan are actually reading this and it made me both excited and nervous. If I** **misuse any term or honorific or just anything at all please let me now. It** ' **s really cool to realize the wide variety of people we can reach through the internet and I hope that this story can keep going.**

 **Thank you for reading this far and I hope you** **will continue to do so.**

 **-Shikkaku**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Those Delicate Fingers

There are signs that warn us of forthcoming evils: shortness of breath before a heart attack, warm nights before a storm,solar halos before the rain; In that street, the sound of coughing indicated impending battle. He had reached us, Akutagawa, the dog of the Port Mafia.

Before I could fully consider my options, Tanizaki-kun collapsed.

The thing about Akutagawa´s ability is that there is no avoiding it, Rashomon can come from anywhere, he didn't even have to be close in order to attack. If Dazai is listening in, then the obvious choice is to side with the Agency.

I was surprised to find that my body responded according to my commands, the transformation was quick and painless, I even managed to change only my limbs. As long as Akutagawa-senpai is here Higuchi-san will be safe, in that case…

I readied myself to attack, but then stopped on my tracks at the sound of his voice. "You fear death." What is he talking about? "You fear killing. Those who yearn for death.." Was it a message, a coded message? Maybe the Mafia was sending instructions, or a warning or… "Are also yearned for by death. Therefore… cough, It´s a pleasure to meet meet you, man-tiger." Maybe they had predicted that Higuchi-san would be caught from the beginning, maybe the Mafia wasn't so far behind.

Blood was starting to pool around Naomi and Tanizaki-kun. I have to move fast.

"Higuchi," Akutagawa turned away from me. "Your job is to capture the man-tiger alive and yet you started shooting."

"Akutagawa-senapi" He slapped her before she could finish. "You useless imbecile, What if you'd shot him by accident? Don't you know that the 7 billion yen bounty applies only if he's alive?!"

"I am sorry" Higuchi clutched her face as she apologized, her eyes downcast with shame.

"Bounty?" I asked momentarily confused, Did they decide to hand me over after all?

Then I realized. They know about the microphone. The 7 billion yen bounty was a perfect excuse, if the Agency decided to protect me then the Mafia would have a legitimate reason to launch a war against them, besides, with everyone distracted, my chances of finding the book before the Detective Agency were much better. Now I just had to make sure the Agency would want to protect me.

"Yes. Your companions lying over there." Akutagawa-senpai turned back to me with his tired dark eyes "I guess you can say they got hurt because of you."

Nakahara-San had told me that the Agency would take me in if I appeared heroic and selfless. In order to walk amongst good people, I must react like one. I launched, he sidestepped with ease. He's not going to make it easy. Even if the situation was fake, his resentment towards me wasn't. The battle was going to be real.

"You bring calamity upon those around you simply by living." Those words reminded me of the orphanage, of how they'd thrown me out. No. "You should have sensed it yourself, right?"

No, I will prove you wrong.

I attacked him again, but Rashomon surrounded me. This was my opening; I pulled the book page out of my pocket (which is not easy when your hands are paws) and after fumbling around for a bit finally managed to throw it against the black wall which enveloped me.

Rashomon receded just enough to circle only my leg. Akutagawa-senpai will notice for sure.

"My Rashomon is omnivorous." He's going to do it again. The thing we did during training. "If you resist, its next bite will be your leg."

"Atsushi-kun" Tanizaki looked lifted his head weakly and spoke with transparent pain. "Run."

What Tanizaki-kun did not realize was that both Akutagawa-senpai and I were aware that my ability allowed me to heal incredibly fast, from any kinds of wounds, including amputation. We knew that I could regenerate limbs.

It wasn't as big of a risk as Tanizaki-kun thought. So as I broke through Rashomon and charged at Akutagawa, I couldn't help but think about how my bravery was a lie, even as I shook with the memory of how painful it was to have a piece of my body torn off, I knew it would grow back, just as I knew I would betray the Armed detective Agency.

Please don't care about me Tanizaki-kun

When I was close enough to Akutagawa-senpai I whispered "Grimm" he remained emotionless, unmoved, and then, the shock of sharp pain consumed me. He tore off my leg and I collapsed.

"The only ones that can cry all they want are children with parents". The voice of the director of the orphanage can back to me. "Brats dumped by their parents do not deserved to cry."

That's right. I've been spurned since the day I was born.

I could feel my bones reshaping, pushing me to complete transformation.

Even so I...

My leg was back, my body was completly lined with black and white fur. I was tiger

Will prove my worth

My attacks got quicker, my strength enough to pierce through Rashomon.

Akutagawa-senpai We were fight, truly and honestly fighting. This time I will be a match for you.

Higuchi started firing, even though she new bullets weren't enough to pierce my pelt. Who is she putting up a show for?

Just as I was about to throw myself over Akutagawa-senpai, a bandaged hand reached out. Dazai-san has stepped between us. I transformed back into a human and Rashomon died out in the middle of Akutagawa's attack.

"Now, now" he said. "That's enough"

Akutagawa looked at Dazai for a minute, as if acknowledging him, no, as if his mere presence was mesmerizing. The he turned around and left.

Higuchi dropped both of her guns, defeated.

"Akutagawa-senpai." She dropped to her knees.

"Looks like your superior left you behind." Dazai approached her. "That kind of thing can happen when you let people in the Mafia down, Higuchi-chan". He kneeled to face it. "Such a pretty Lady, it's truly a shame. I sincerely love all women you know?" "Let's not make a scene in here. Our companions are hurt so you'll have to accompany us to the Agency first." Dazai-San took the recording device out of Higuchi's pocket and turned to face me. "Let's take them back home."

I carried Naomi back and Dazai-san took care of Tanizaki, Higuchi-san followed silently. Apparently even bullet wounds were not that serious for people in the Agency. The tall woman who I'd seen on my first night in the Agency, Yosano-sensei, has the ability to treat all sorts of injuries. So as soon as we left them in her care, everything would be okay.

Higuchi-san lightly touched my shoulder. "She will have the answer to Akutagawa-senpai's code." She whispered. "We will kidnap you so you can look into it."

Dazai-san turned towards us. Did he hear Higuchi-san? I should distract him somehow.

"Is she causing you any trouble, Atsushi-kun?"

"N-not really."

"Because if she is…"

Change the topic, find a way to distract him.

"D-Dazai-san" What to say? What to say? "Why do you like woman so much?"

Is that a normal thing to ask?

"Ah, that's a great question Atsushi-kun. There's a beauty to women, a mystery on the way they walk and how they speak. Women inhabit the Earth but they live in another world. When I look at a woman's delicate fingers I think that leaving the world entangled in them wouldn't be so bad." His face reflected an eerie calm, it was stern and unreadable. There were so many facets to this person that I could never hope to understand. "Oh my, we're here" we reached the Agency and left Tanizaki and Naomi-san with Yosano-sensei, who seemed both angry and oddly excited about having patients.

The police came to take Higuchi-san away. She didn't fight or even struggle in the least; a few minutes later we got a call that she was locked up in a high security prision. As far as I new she had no ability and was not in a high enough position within the Mafia that they'd raid that kind of place just to take her out. Did they really sacrifice Higuchi-san to send a message, or are they planning something? Besides, I had no idea who the she Higuchi-San talked about was.

After pondering about the whole thing for a long time I decided to go home, to the flat The Agency had given me. I said my goodbyes and walked out the door. Kunikida-san was worried that the Mafia might come after me, but I managed to convince him I could make my way home without getting attacked. "I've already caused enough problems for a day after all."

As I walked home a hand shot out and grabbed my arm. For a minute I wasn't sure if she was real.

Her hands were small, her fingers delicate, her eyes as empty as a doll's. Her skin was as smooth as porcelain and her black hair long and shiny. There were few qualities that might distinguish her as a human being, few and barely noticeable.

"Found you" her voice was flat, it sounded like a soft recording, and yet it convinced me of her humanity

She was wearing a kimono of red silk with yellow flowers.

It was the girl who had given me the note and surely the one that the story narrated about.

She was the one who could answer the riddle and lead me to the book. I didn't know her name, but surely the owner of those delicate fingers was none other than Little Red Riding Hood.

Hello internet:

This chapter took more time than usual but in exchange I tried to make it a bit longer. I hope it wasn't too much of an inconvenience.

Feel free to send any kind of feedback or comments and thank you for reading this far!

-Shikkaku


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: Another Drop**

"This is a kidnapping." She said. "Come with me." And at some point my life had become such a mess that I actually followed her.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"First to the black Lizard." There was an unnerving absence of everything in her voice, it was black, both powerful and empty. It was soft but had no tone or rhythm, it was honey dripping on an empty space. Maybe she _is_ a doll after all. "Then... it depends on Akutagawa´s message."

"Why are we going to the Black Lizard?" Gin, Michizou, Hirotsu; members of the Black Lizard team, they were deployed for one purpose and one purpose only: to kill. With a success rate of 99.6%, they disposed of the Port Mafia´s enemies. To be honest, what alarmed me the most was the .6%, how in the world did they manage to half-kill a person? Gin, Michizou, Hirotsu: people that I absolutely didn't want to come across.

"Asking questions is not part of our jobs."

She was right, of course, low ranking members of the Mafia had no right to information.

I soon recognized the streets we were going through. "Are we going to the ports?"

"Yes." She stopped in front of a warehouse, just a few steps ahead of me. "This is it."

My eyes shot open and I froze in my tracks. Even before I caught up to her, a metallic stench flooded my nostrils; the warehouse reeked of blood.

She stood there, half of her face illuminated by the yellow lights of the warehouse, half of it enveloped by the shadows of the setting sun, her whole face expressionless, the entirety body wrapped in red silk.

"Who are you?" I asked, mesmerized by her sharp beauty, angel-like and yet so tainted by death. She was not a character out of a fairytale. She made no sense.

"My name is Kyouka" Black hair obscured her eyes. "I am an orphan like you."

The soft wind revealed her stern expression, so we were looking eye to eye. It was like staring at glass, tiger to doll. "I like rabbits and tofu." There was a silver cellphone hanging on a chain around her neck. "I dislike dogs and thunder." I am ashamed to admit that back then, over Kyouka´s faint words, I could hear the sound of people dying, taking their last laboured breaths, fighting for mere seconds of life, and I stood there, pretending that it was all in my head, that my ability didn´t grant me the power to listen to their husky pleading. "After I was taken in by the Mafia, I killed 35 people in six months."

Then a figure clad in black emerged from the warehouse. He was wearing a tailored suit and a long black scarf. his white hair was swept back, he had thin eyelashes and mustache, and a short beard ending in a spike and wore a monocle over his right eye.

 _Ryurou Hirotsu, commander of the black lizard._

"Oh, you´re here already" He pulled a cigarette out of his pocket and into his mouth in one swift movement, then he light it. "Sure enough, cigarettes taste exceptionally good after a job well done."

"What happened here." I asked.

"A group of damned bastards had been stealing goods from the Port Mafia to sell in the black market." He spoke without letting go of the cigarette. "We took care of them and figured we´d meet with you here since we were coming anyway."

Unable to ignore the sounds and smells coming from the building anymore, I ran past Hirotsu and Kyouka and into the warehouse. The breathing died out, everyone was already dead, the ground was painted red. Gin and Michizou were sitting calmly over a pile of boxes, unbothered by the pooling bloth and the fallen bodies.

I looked around, trying to pick up signs of life. _Too late._

"We already took care of them, Tiger." Michizou walked over the bodies as if they were nothing. his small amber eyes narrowing on me.

"Was this really necessary?" _Don't lose your temper in front of these people._ "Surely there has to be other way to deal with people who…"

"Anyone who opposes the Mafia loses their right to be considered a person." Hirotsu walked in with Kyouka by his side.

"Kyouka here is going to take you away for the job." He dropped the cigarette and stepped over it. "She is a very capable girl. However, we can't have the Agency interfering with this, so the Black Lizard will hold them back." "Normally we would fight then head on, but the situation has changed. Now we need their doctor."

"Yosano-sensei?"

"What do you mean?"

"The boss was attacked last night. At a time like this we can't afford to go through the instability that his death would bring."

"Who could possibly wound the leader of the Port Mafia like that."

"We found a note." He approached, splashing blood under his polished black shoes. "It said Grimm." "Akutagawa seems to think that you know something about it." Gin's head snapped up at the sound of Akutagawa's name, Her hair was tied up into a spiky bun with a few loose strands left along the left side of her face. She also wore a black choker and a white mask that covers the lower part of her face. I was at least half sure that Gin was a woman, but it was hard to tell.  
"The unnamed brothers." _What is going on._ "But they've always remained uninvolved, why would that change now?"

"Finding out is you job, not mine." _So at least for now I_ ' _m not going to be killed._

"What are you going to do with Yosano-sensei?"

"We just want her to cure the boss." Hirotsu looked somewhat tired. Things on the Mafia were probably going bad. "But we have to make sure that she doesn't try anything funny."

Michizou moved behind me and held me by the arms.

"Having a hostage makes things easier for us."

"W-wait, you do realize I'm not actually a member or the agency right?" _Should I fight Michizou off?_ "I'm supposed to go looking for the brothers right?"

"Relax." Michizou said. "Your regenerating ability makes it easy for us to play pretend. We just need a finger."

I didn't even see Gin standing, didn't hear her movement, until I felt the cold knife cutting into in hand. I didn't even register the pain until I saw the finger falling off and my blood joined the one that tainted the floor scarlet.

Just another drop in the crimson sea.

 **Hello everyone,**

 **I know this chapter was a bit slow but I hope you guys enjoyed anyway. I`ll try to update over the weekend.**

 **Thank you for reading and please review!**

 **-Shikkaku**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: Like the Setting Sun**

"Ready to go?" kyouka asked as she waited by the warehouse´s door. I sloppily wrapped a bandage around my hand, mainly because the sight of the wound made me a bit nauseous. _I don´t want to see a single drop of blood after this._

"Yeah" I answered, but my hands were shaking.

Kyoka always walked a few steps ahead, asking if I was still there every few minutes, but never looking back.

"A-about Akutagawa-senpai´s message..." I started asking, but she interrupted me mid-sentence.

"I am unauthorized to disclose any information until we reach a safe-zone."

"A safe-zone?"

"Yes" Her voice could be barely heard over the whistling wind. "Safe zones are parts of the city were the Mafia has overpowered all other agencies, guvernamental or otherwise. In other words, safe zones are parts of the city we have complete control over." "The next one is just a couple of blocks away."  
She came to a stop in front of a blue house marked 525 two blocks down, which I assumed was part of the safe zone.

"You-5-you" She started speaking once I was close enough, but her words made no sense. "Fear-3-them, Death-7. Therefore-end of message"

"What?"

"You-5…"

"I got it the first time so there's no need to repeat yourself."

"Well you asked "what" so I thought you hadn´t heard the first part."

"N-no, it´s okay." I checked around my pockets. "I wrote down senpai´s message to make sure it wouldn't get lost, let me see…, here it is!"

 _You fear death,_ _You fear killing. Those who yearn for death, Are also yearned for by death. Therefore, it´s a pleasure to meet meet you, man-tiger._

"So if therefore is _end of message_ then we have to focus only on the part before it right?" I asked as I handed her the piece of paper.

" _We?"_ She sounded surprise. _That´s the first time I hear any emotion on her voice._

"Well, we _are_ a team."

Her eyes lit up and she looked up at me, a completely different person than she had been at the warehouse. "Yes." This was the girl who liked rabbits and tofu, but was scared of dogs and thunder. "The first three words must be the first part of the message." She said, holding the paper close to her eyes. _537_ , w...we were sent on the route to this specific safe zone, and the houses are numbered like this so maybe w...we are being sent to a house here." She said the word _we_ tentatively and briefly made eye contact when she did, as if looking for confirmation. When I thought about it, Kyouka was an orphan just like me, and my experiences in the orphanage weren't the best, maybe her robot-like behaviour was a result of shyness.

"Then, the next part, _You them killing?"_

"Right, we need to kill the people in the house."

"Kyouka-chan, isn't that a bit too much…" She blushed at the sound of her own name. _How did I not see it before? The way she looks down, how easily her cheeks turn pink..._

"But if Akutagawa-san said it then we have to it."

"That´s not all of the message so maybe we should get to the door first and figure out what Akutagawa-senpai meant."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-..-.-.-..-.

"530, 533,536" We walked down the street, now me up from and Kyouka behind. "The house we're looking for should be on the other side of the street."

But when we turned there was nothing but an empty lot.

"What's the meaning of this?" I stopped on my tracks, but Kyouka-chan walked right in, looking for anything that might be useful.

"Maybe I was wrong." She said, her face turning scarlet.

"Wait a second, your theory made a lot of sense and we might still find something so don't be discouraged." I said. "There's no need to make that kind of face."

"I've gone all red haven't I?" She clutched her kimono tightly. "I don't like the color red."

"Huh? But you always wear that kimono"

"My mother gave it to me before she passed away." Her voice was starting to break, the robotic demenour pierced by sorrow. "Red is the color of fire and blood, red is the only color that seems to suit me, a killer. Like I was born to be this."

"I don't know much about the things you've done, but I think at what you choose to do now is more important than all the things you've done before combined. Nobody was born better than you, just as you weren't born any less. Red does."

She kept looking down, her lips slightly shaking.

"Red does suit you, but what if you think about it differently?"

"Differently?"

"Yes." I said, taking a step towards her. "Red is the color of sunsets and cherries and poppies and roses." I took another step with every word. "It's the color of liquorice and apples and raspberries." "Kyouka-chan, even if red is the color of blood and fire, don't we need it flowing through our veins? Don't we need warmth?"

"I suppose so."

"Then let's find what senpai sent us for together."

"Yes." She smiled weakly but decidedly.

"Looking for something?" A familiar voice called. I looked around and we were suddenly standing in a room overflowing with scattered books, on a second floor judging by the view on the small window. It was the same street and the same houses were staring back at us, but Kyouka-chan and I hadn't taken a step off the empty lot. "Don't you know it's rude to come into somebody's house uninvited children?" Two figures emerged from behind a stack of books.

"Then again, we were going to call you soon enough."

Kyouka-chan pulled out a dagger from god knows where and launched at the figures. _I_ ' _ve seen them before. It´s the unnamed brothers; Grimm._

The figure on the left pulled out an old, worn book from the stack and jumped in front of his brother, holding the open book as a shield. As soon as Kyouka´s dagger reached it, she disappeared.

"Kyouka-chan!" I ran towards them too. "Where is she?! What have you done to her."

I transformed my hands into paws but as soon as the brother holding the book looked at me, they turned back. _They don_ ' _t even require contact like Dazai-san´s ability._

The brothers stepped into the light, they had steely blue eyes that seemed to shine with an eerie light of their own, although only one eye could be seen on each of their faces from underneath the long blond hair. Their skin was paperwhite and their expressions amused.

"It seems we underestimated the Mafia." They both spoke at the same time, with the same voice. The one on the right had a burn-mark running through his face, _just like in my dream._ "They weren't supposed to lead you hear for another day, but it changes nothing."

"Bring Kyouka-chan back!"

"Don't worry about little-red riding hood." They said. "She's just dreaming of fairy tales about roses and sunsets. About apples and blood and fire." "Dreams colored in red, the color that suits her best."

A force was pulling me to the ground harshly.

"This is your superior's ability isn't it?" They were smirking. "Nakahara Chuuya: for the tainted sorrow. Gravity manipulation." "He could be doing great things with this." _How are they doing this? Don_ ' _t tell me they can actually use other´s abilities._

"Why are you here?" I asked, pulling my head up with all of my strength. "What do you want."

The brother on the left knelt beside me. "We just want to play."

"Say, Atsushi-kun, how is Mori-san?" _Mori-san, the boss._ The other one followed after pulling a small blue . "I'm afraid we might have gone a bit too far last time." "Then again, with Yosano-sensei around everything is fixable right?"

"Wrong." The other one answered.

"What's that Grimm? Are you talking about our story?"

He quickly went through the pages of the book and then, his hand morphed into a white tiger's paw. "This could come in handy." He said, briefly staring at it and then moving on. "Want to see the story we wrote yesterday Atsushi-kun?"

"Once upon a time…"

"You're crazy" I interrupted them. "Both of you, give back Kyouka-chan!"

"Fine" they pouted. "If you're in such a hurry then we'll give you the summary."

"Yosano-sensei" one of them said. "Is going to be killed by the Mafia." the other one finished.

"No… You're wrong! They just want to cure Mori-san and then…"  
"Then what, they're going to let go the person that keeps their enemies from dying?"

"We just wanted to give you a headstart, Atsushi-kun." The one with the scar said, "See you tomorrow."

And then the force that was pulling me down disappeared, but just as I prepared to launch, I was back in the empty lot, and Kyouka-chan was standing, her dagger still drawn, but instead of her red kimono she was wearing a white dress and a red riding hood.

"Atsushi-kun, what happened?" she looked perplexed.

"The brothers, they…"  
 _Yosano-sensei is in danger, no time to be confused._ I sprinted off.

"Atsushi-kun!"

"I have to save Yosano-sensei!"

"Wait! If you betray the Mafia they'll kill you."  
"I know"

"They'll have you tortured!"

"I know!" "But the Agency took me in even when I'm the dubious person I am, they risk their lives everyday to make sure everyone is safe! Yosano-sensei is a person that can make the world better, therefore, I can have no part in her death"

"This world that left you as an orphan, that brought you wandering into these bloody streets, this world that has given you nothing but misery, why do you want to save it?."

"Because I've seen the light. I've seen people working and earning their place in this world. I have seen the terrible things that people do but I have also seen the great ones. Since I'm not ready to leave this world, then I want to earn my place in here too, I want to earn my place here too!"

She put the dagger away and pulled my hand. "This light that you talk about, can a murderer reach it too? Can I become worthy too?"

I held her hand and we ran.

 **Hello internet! Shikkaku here**

 **Finals are here so I** ' **ll probably update only once a week for now. Sorry :(, I will attempt to make the chapters slightly longer though.**

 **Thank you very much for reading this far and please send some feedback.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10: Everything** ' **s is going to be just fine...and other lies**

In the Armed Detective Agency, being almost death was not being injured at all. That was the magic of Yosan-sensei´s ability, it allowed her companions to be as brave as they had to, it made all sorts of missions possible, it made them strong, powerful beyond their limitations, invencible in their recklessness. Immune

What were bullets and bombs? What her knives and fists? What was bleeding or falling? What was danger when they had the cure? They were a small organization, and yet they managed to keep the city in balance. They were Yokohama´s insurance.

And then, when she died, they were vulnerable.

Nothing was the same after we killed Yosano-sensei.

Kyouka-chan and I intended to save her, that was our honest to God objective. As we ran towards the headquarters our minds raced, thinking of possible ways to save her. Getting in would be no problem, getting out would be impossible, the mere idea of betraying the Mafia was daunting, our resolve was stronger. We were stupid.

Kyouka-chan knew the building like the palm of her expert, scarred hand, and it was easy to get past the scarce security. Mori-san had just been cured, everyone was celebrating. At first it was so very easy that we were convinced of our ability to pull it off. The experienced assassin and the inexperienced spy, what could go wrong? Kyouka-chan kept eyeing her cellphone nervously, as if it were a bomb ready to blow off. She looked awfully worried; we, a pair of orphans with no clear allegiance, were about to betray a powerful criminal organization with influence all over the city, so I attributed her nervousness to that fact. She should've told me, I should've asked. We should've made a plan.

She told me they usually kept prisoners in a detached room on floor 5, so we raced up the stairs and, sure enough, there she was. Her clothes her dirty with blood and she was disheveled, but she broke into a toothy grin when she saw me approach.

"Atsushi-kun." She said. "Not missing any fingers, apparently."

"Yeah, I heal effectively."

"You shouldn't put yourself in situations where you have to. Getting caught by the mafia." She exhaled tirededly. "This kid." She was supposed to be scolding me, but she looked rather happy. "And who's your friend?"

"Right. Yosano-sensei, this is Kyouka-chan, she's an orphan just like me, but she was found by the Mafia and forced to work on some pretty nasty jobs."

"Forced is too strong of a word." Kyouka-chan was looking down. I looked at her. "She doesn't want to work here anymore." She looked terribly innocent for a murderer.

"Kyouka-chan, this is Yosano-sensei, the doctor at the Armed Detective Agency."

"Right, the one we're here to save."

"Huh?" Yosano sensei looked down at us. "You kids are here to save _me_? The only reason I'm here is that Mr. Kitty over there was unable to stay out of trouble."

"Then let's just save each other and run back to the Agency." I said.

I thought struck me then. They probably got Rampo-san, the super detective, on the case as soon as I went missing, the probably already knew who I was. Once we saved Yosano-sensei, we would be traitors to both the Detective Agency and the Mafia. Kyouka-chan and I would have to go on the run.

"How did you managed to break through the lock?" Yosano-sensei asked. "I've been trying for hours."

"I can break through all kinds of locks" answered Kyouka-chan, pulling a bobby pin off her hair.

 _If we manage to leave the building as quietly as we came in there_ ' _ll be no trouble._ But because faith knows no mercy, a loud siren began blasting as soon as Yosano sensei stepped out of the door. A tiger's hearing is sensitive, which means _my_ hearing is sensitive, which means I fell to my knees and uselessly clutched my ears in a weak attempt to block out the noise.

Yosano-sensei pulled me up and Kyouka motioned for me to move.

We started running, but I was slowing us down in my daze. The alarm drilled into my head with increasing strength, and then, Kyouka stopped death on her tracks, her eyes filling with panic.

The phone was vibrating on her chest, creating small creases on her red riding-hood.

"No" she said softly at first, but then started shouting it. "NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!" But she grabbed in with shaky hands, as if compelled by its ringing. The voice on the other side of the line was definitely Akutagawa-senpai, his message was definitely no good.

"We know you're on the building. Our prisoner is escaping. kill the doctor."

"I don't want to." said Kyouka, pulling the phone away from her ear slowly.

A smoky figure materialized behind her. It was a giant woman in a kimono holding a katana, her face hidden behind a mask. It looked like a ghost or a vengative angel, it looked dangerous.

"Run!" Shouted Kyouka. "Leave! Please run! Please!" She collapsed, sobbing, nothing like the doll-like girl I'd first met. I had to help her, I had to…

Yosano-sensei grabbed at my arm and pulled.

"We'll come back for her" She said as we ran, but it didn't sound convincing at all. She probably said it as much for me as for her.

Then I saw him. "Nakahara-san."

"What did you say?" She asked.

And then Nakahara-san stepped out of the shadows. "Why don't you hold the doctor down just long enough for Kyouka's _Demon Snow_ to kill her. Atsushi-kun"

"You betrayed us." She said squeezing my arm harshly before letting it go. "We picked you up from the streets and you betrayed us." The shock in her eyes gave way to hatred and disgust. Did she finally see me for the terrible human being I was?

" _I_ picked him up from the streets." Nakahara-san intervened. "He was never on your side."

Panic-spread all through my body. Would I have to fight Nakahara-san? Could I even do it?

Yosano-sensei turned away to leave, I grabbed at her wrist

"Sensei please wait." Maybe we could hold him back together.

"You…" she snapped back. And I could see it on her eyes. I could see my reflection, the way she saw me, I could see my miserable self and her pain and anger, and then I could see her shock and the blood spraying. I could almost see the members of the Agency frantically looking for her, then mourning her, breaking apart. I could almost see the rapture, the hole where Yosano-sensei should´ve been.

I could see her body growing limp and then falling, I could feel it were my hand and her wrist connected. A hero, a hardworking woman who'd dedicated her life to helping people, a strong person, an amazing human being, and then I could see her body land on the cold floor, her head separated from the rest, a dead body lying at the feet of Kyouka' s demon.

"Even for the Armed Detective Agency." Nakahara-san said. "Death is final."

Then Kyouka-chan herself stepped in.

"Seems like our plan worked Atsushi" her voice was cracking, but if Nakahara-san noticed, he gave no indication of it.

"Plan?" He asked.

"Atsushi and I saw her make a run for it. He wasn't sure he could take her on his own and I can't control Demon Snow myself." She came to stand beside me. "So we decided to play along with her until Akutagawa-senpai noticed and gave us an order."

"I see." He said. "You orphans make a fine team."

"Yeah." I answered, trying to sound energetic but failing miserably.

"Anyways." Nakahara-san didn't look bothered at all, even as blood started to pull under sensei. I looked at her expectantly, holding onto the hope of her managing to cure herself. This was the amazing Yosano-sensei, there were no wounds she couldn't heal.

"Did you learn anything about the brothers?" He asked, moving on as if nothing big had happened.

"Yeah. Some things."

"Good, because Mori-san is asking for you." _The boss himself?_

"They used a strange ability on me." Intervened Kyouka-chan, holding up one side of her white skirt. "I should go too, to report on what Atsushi didn't see."

"Sure." Nakahara-san lead us away. I grabbed on to Kyouka's shaky hand in an attempt to steady it, but mine weren't that firm either.

"I'm scared" She whispered so faintly that I could barely hear it.

"Don't worry." I said as much for her as for me. "Everything is going to be just fine." But it didn't sound so convincing, and it wasn't.

I looked back.

Kyouka's demon was gone… and Yosano-sensei was still death.

… **.**

 **I absolutely hate myself for this.**

 **And for what is to come.**

 **-Shikakku**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11: Do They?**

The room where we found Mori-san was exactly what one would expect from the leader of the Port Mafia.

At the very top of the building, dimly lit, furnished in an expensive and somewhat gothic fashion; it was a little too much and a little empty at the same time.

Mori-san was elegant, with a black suit and a red scarf, he looked regal and deathly, exactly what I would have expected; but he was also holding a frilly dress and chasing after little blonde girl. Exactly the opposite of what I expected.

"Elise-chan" He was calling. "Just try it on"

"No" she answered blatantly.

Nakahara-san stood straight, as if the sight was not strange at all, Kyouka-chan and I followed suit, as if we weren't terrified t all.

When Mori-san finally saw us, he stood straight and smiled sheepishly. The little girl, Elise-chan, scurried closer to him and hid behind his back, only peering over at us with suspicion on her eyers. Was is possible that after everything we would be caught by a child?

"Ah, the Weretiger" He said, "and this girl is…?"

"That´s Izumi Kyouka" Nakahara-san explained, "the girl that Kouyou brought in."

"Demon Snow" Mori-san said. "If I'm not mistaken."

"That is correct." Answered Kyouka, keeping all emotion out of her voice, somehow managing to leave behind the fact that we had just killed a person, a _doctor._ "I have assisted Atsushi on his mission."

"Is that so?" Mori-san moved to sit on a red chair behind a mahogany table. "Now, I understand that you had an encounter with the Unnamed brothers." He clasped his together below his chin and rested his head while Kyouka-chan and I told him what we had seen. That's when I finally heard what Kyouka-chan had been through during our encounter with th unnamed brothers.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Izumi Kyouka was not the kind of girl who spent time in the outdoors. She liked the city better, and its outskirts the best. Being surrounded by trees had always been unnerving to her; the unending green blanket enveloping everything, the mysterious sounds, the textures and the dangers, it was too infinite, too powerful.

She had been confused, not particularly scared about the change in her surroundings or her clothes, but certainly very alarmed by the raging woods raising around her. One minute she had been launching at an unnamed man in a house that did not exists, wearing her red kimono, dagger at hand, and then she was standing on a small dirt path, a revolver were her dagger had been and a white dress instead of her kimono. She realized there was a red cape, no, a riding hood, over her dress.

Kyouka looked around for a minute, the trees themselves seemed to hum with life. She soon realized she was lost. She began to wonder where she was, but the more she thought, the more her spiraled into confusion and then she wondered, who am I?

While she looked around hoping to find some clue, a set of yellow, cat-like eyes shone amongst the trees. He stepped out and it _was_ a cat, or something like it, a tiger, or man who was somehow also a tiger. His shape was that of a man, but he was also covered in white and black fur, his hands were sharp clawed paws, and yet they looked so soft. He was by all means a beast, but something inside Kyouka told her he was trustworthy.

"Do you know where we are ?" She asked.

"Inside the forest of course." he answered. "Where are you going with that gun?"

She looked down at the revolver and wondered. "I think I have to kill somebody." this seemed quite logical to her. "Or else and everyone else will be mad at me, they won't feed me anymore if I don't get my job done."

She stood like that, trying to remember who she was and who she was supposed to kill until she looked up to the tiger's eyes and remember.

 _Atsushi_

Her new friend was trying to deal with the unnamed brothers all by himself.

"I´m sorry Mr. Tiger, but I have to help a friend, I must leave." She spoke fast, a hint on despair tinting her voice. "Do you know a way out perhaps?"

"There is no way out."

But there had been, Kyouka had been set free just to find a very alarmed Atsushi. After the forest, she had betrayed the Mafia, helped an enemy/ally ecape, then (accidentally?) betrayed her new and only friend, and killed a doctor.

All in a day's job.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"So you were trapped inside the story?" I asked "As if you'd become a part of it?" What Kyouka-chan described sounded an awful lot like the Red Riding Hood story I had been given. I didn't say this, though, because I wasn't sure I wanted Mori-san and Nakahara-san to learn more about me, Kyouka-chan, or even about the unnamed all, it wasn't just one book, but a series of them that allowed the Brothers Grimm to do things we couldn't even begin to imagine. If the Mafia got ahold of even one of them, there was no saying what they, what _we_ , could do. But also, I wasn't sure could could deal with the brothers at all.

Kyouka-chan and I had been completely defenseless against them. Maybe we weren't the most powerful members of the Mafia, but we had been trained, we should have been able to do something, but we were just puppets, the brothers had controlled the encounter.

"The more time I spent inside the book, the more I became a character and forgot who I was." Kyouka-chan said. "In some ways it was a lot like real life, but distorted, I was still an assassin, I was still under the command of Kouyou, Atsushi was still a man-tiger…" She broke off. "But it was…. I don't know how to explain it…." she looked up, as if trying to peer into her memories. "It was like that story was overriding my real memories."

"This must be another ability granted by the book." Nakahara-san reason.

"The _books_ " Corrected Mori-san. "From what Atsushi-kun describes there were lots of them. Tell me boy, did they use only one of the books, or did everyone of them grant them a different ability?"

"I think they used more than one." I answered. "But honestly the memory is fuzzy at best, besides, after what Kyouka-chan described I don't think we can trust anything that happened in there, wherever we were."

Kyouka-chan took a step towards me. Her black shoes clicking against the marble floor.

"This is all very useful information." Was the leadof the Mafia praising us? "Anyways, you kids have a job to get back to." Said Mori-san. "Atsushi-kun should go back to the Armed Detective Agency and Izumi-san will keep finding ways to support you from a safe distance."

"M-Mori-san." I staggered, unsure of weather it was okay for me to address him directly. "At this point surely Ranpo-san from the Armed Detective Agency has investigated Yosano-sensei's disappearance." _Her death_ "So surely he must've figured out my true allegiance."

"To be fair I don't think even you have figured out your true allegiance, Atsushi-kun." He answered. _He knows what we were planning._

Kyouka-chan grabbed my hand in a sudden protective gesture. "But there will be plenty of time for that." He smiled, unbothered by the tense atmosphere. "Edogawa Ranpo-san will not be a problem"

I gulped. Kyouka-chan squeezed my hand. _What is that supposed to mean?_

"But they know about Atsushi already." Kyouka-chan spoke up. "Surely sending him will result in his death."

"They know" repeated Mori-san "Do they really?"

Nakahara-san chuckled. "Don't worry brat, we're not sending you on a suicide mission." He told me.

"The Black Lizard already took care of it."

Before I could ask exactly what they meant, or more specifically if Ranpo-San was death, Kyouka-chan's phone went off, both Nakahara-san and Mori-san gave her a knowing look, and she left after making a slight, polite bow, ready to kill again.

 **Hello internet!**

 **It is I, the slowest fanfic writer ever. Sorry for taking so long and thank you for sticking up with this story.**

 **As always, I'm grateful for any commentaries.**

 **See you next chapter,**

 **-Shikakku**


	12. Chapter 12: Superdeduction

Chapter 12: Superdeduction

There had been two guarantees in Ranpo's life:

#1: He could solve any and all mysteries, that was super-deduction.

#2: He would always have a family to come back to, that was the Armed Detective Agency

His first guarantee was being tested, his second guarantee was being destroyed. Sitting on the back of a black car it occurred to him that maybe knowing wasn't the same as solving.

He knew everything: about the Mafia, about the traitor, about their search for the unnamed brothers; but that brought him no closer to solving the problem. He also knew Atsushi was being used, as orphans could easily be, that's why the Mafia took them in, but as a new, terrible certainty sank into him he couldn't help but hate him. Maybe it wasn't Atsushi's fault, but Ranpo knew deep inside him that Yosano-sensei was dead by now.

What he did not know is who the black car belonged to. Or what was going to happen to him. His glasses had fallen off when he'd been pulled into the car and his thoughts were occupied entirely by the late doctor.

I hope it was quick at least

Oh how the mighty fall. He truly was in no condition to play detective now. To pretend he too had an ability and was not only useful but necessary to the Agency.

This was the truth Ranpo denied but knew: There was no superdeduction, no special ability. He was only a man with a good head. He was maybe helpful to the Agency, but they could get by without him.

The car surely belonged to the Mafia. It was weird because, even though he could swear somebody had pulled him in ,there was nobody with him in the Mafia.

The car kept going and kept going and kept going for what felt like a really long time, and Ranpo was getting sleepy. He soon found that his grief and his worries were rapidly diminishing.

Did someone die?

No, someone was dying.

His head was spinning and his clothes looked different somehow. He hadn't been wearing a suit when he got into the car, had he? When has he gotten into the car? What was his name?

He felt his face, trying to regain control of his mind. Had he always had that beard?

Yes, that's why people called him King Thrushbeard.

He remembered clearly now. His daughter was sick. Poor darling Akiko had fallen ill, and no doctor had been able to cure her. His wife was waiting for him to get back. His men were working on finding that mischievous Rumplestiltskin.

The door to the car was opened and King Thrushbeard descended.

"Edogawa-sama" one of the guards approached him. "A boy claims to have apples that can cure the princess."

Ranpo's heart skipped.

He had been absorbed by the story. A tale masterfully spinned by the brothers Grimm to occupy the greatest detective's mind completely.

"The Unnamed Brothers, or should I call them the brother Grimm now? Contacted us shortly before your visit." Said Mori-san. "The situation is not ideal but we seem to have an agreement for now." "You and little Kyouka have your own roles to play in this as well."

"What do you mean?" I was vaguely aware of raising my voice to the leader of the Port Mafia, and the consequences this might have, but my mind was spinning with adrenaline and fear, a strange cocktail of recklessness and anxiety cursing through my veins. "What was Kyouka-chan sent to do? Where is she now?"

Nakahara-san looked at me with reprehension, cautioning restraint, but Mori-san appeared unbothered.

"She's doing her job." He answered calmly, as will you. "As will you." Something about his polite manner and his easy eyes was unnerving. He had the appearance one would expect of a school principal or maybe a young government official, but certainly not the leader of a criminal organization. Not of a killer "Go to the Agency, tell them Yosano-san managed to set you free. Tell them of her heroic demise, and wait for instructions."

With shaky legs, I followed Nakahara-san out of the room.

"I understand why the Armed Detective Agency would make you waver" Nakahara-san said "But remember who saved you from the streets, remember what we've done for you."

My chest tightened with shame. They'd saved me, they had given me so much and I had been ready to betray them. "I do remember. And I am extremely grateful, Nakahara-san."

"Then show me." He answered. "Prove you weren't a mistake."

We parted ways after that. He headed back to the heart of the Mafia and I headed back to enemy territory.

How and why the Mafia had reached an agreement with the Grimms escaped me. But my job had never been to know.

Everyone in the Armed Detective Agency snapped their heads towards the door as the little bell announced a visitor.

They were waiting for three members to come back. Only one walked through the door.

There was happiness and grief and fear.

Nakajima Atsushi was no storyteller but he brought tears to the eyes of the audience as he told of the last heroic deeds and the last drawn breath of Yosano Akiko.

He did not tell of betrayal or severed heads. He did not tell of the Grimms or Kyouka chan, but somehow it slipped in between words and tears. A clue and a tiny step towards his undoing.

He told them the Mafia was looking for a book.

They knew what he was talking about. They'd heard the same rumors and stories.

Atsushi found that while his loyalties were with his savior, with the Mafia, a little, or maybe not so little, part of him wanted to be found out and destroyed.

He wanted the Armed Detective Agency to find the book first.

The funeral was simple but elegant. That same day, everyone dressed in black and buried an empty box.

Despite Yosano-sensei's death and the fact that Ranpo has gone missing, nobody at the Agency thought they could spare a day's work. The grieving would be done overnight and we would have to go on. Yosano-sensei might have died but we could still save Ranpo-san; at least that's what they thought.

The next morning, from the corner of my eye I saw a blur of red, just outside the window.

Kyouka-chan

The door burst open and a set of skinny, strong arms wrapped around me.

"Found you" she said. It was Kyouka-chan. Then she whispered on my ear. "Go with it. I'm your instructions."

Kunikida-san was the first to speak.

"Atsushi-kun" He asked. "Do you know this girl?"

"I-I do" I'm blabbering again. "Yes"

Kyouka-chan bowed politely and introduced herself. "Nice to meet you. My name is Izumi Kyouka, Atsushi and I lived on the same orphanage. I was recently adopted by a family in the area and heard that this is were he'd run off to."

 **Sorry Internet!!!!**

 **I've been on vacation and finding internet and time to write has been hard. Finally here's the next part.**

 **Thank you for reading and please give me some feedback.**

 **-Shikkaku**


	13. Chapter 13: Where?

Chapter 13: Where?

At first I thought the plan was risky. Sure Kyouka and I could communicate in a more efficient way if it wasn't behind the Armed Detective Agencys back, but hiding two members of the Mafia in plain sight was a sure way to get found out, specially with a former Mafia executive among the enemy lines.

Dazai. My stomach sank with the knowledge that he was probably next; after Yosano-sensei and Ranpo-san, the saviour and the detective, the Mafia would want to take him, the wall, out.

Then, after a man came running after Kyouka, I thought the plan was completely crazy.

It was one of the Grimms, the brother without a scar.

"I'm sorry about the intrusion." He said in a voice too humble to belong to the same man I'd met before. "My daughter just ran off and…" He put his hands on Kyouka-chan's shoulders and exhaled in mock relief. "Well, you know how it is with children."

"Fa" Kyouka-chan swallowed, struggling to get the words out. "Father. There was no need to come for me. I was just looking for my friend."

"Ah." He said with exaggerated surprise as he leaned towards me. "Atsushi-kun. My daughter has told me a lot about you. Its a pleasure." He extended his hand and I shook it reluctantly. As soon as our hand touched he pulled me into a tight hug. "Ah, you poor orphans." The Grimm ran up to everyone in the Agency next, hugging them and enthusiastically shaking their hand. "But it does warm my heart so to know of this charitable people who took it upon themselves to find a place in their home, no in their hearts, for children like my dear daughter."

"Kyouka-chan" I whispered. "What is he doing?"

"No idea" She answered clearly a little more than tired of her father "He's been like this ever since he adoptedme"

"Well" He announced cheerfully. "Kyouka-chan and I must get going, but if you folks ever need anything feel free to give a call."

He gave his card to Kunikida-san.

"We will." Answered Kunikida clearly surprised. "Councillor Wilhelm Grimm."

"Councillor?" Asked Naomi.

"Yes." Wilhelm Grimm smiled mischievously, looking at me. "I work in the House of Councillors, you see."

He left after that, taking Kyouka and leaving everyone behind stupefact.

"Wow." Naomi finally spoke. "He's from the upper house of Japan's National Diet."

"It appears that Atsushi-kun is the better connected out of all of us." Said Kunikida

"Is that so?" I asked, wondering what that visit had been all about.

"Well" said Dazai. "With Yosano-sensei gone and Ranpo-kun missing we might just need that connection." His eyes were uncharacteristically focused, so much that you could practically see a plan taking shape in his mind.

"Come with me Atsushi-kun." He said, heading to the door without even looking back at me. "We're going to visit my old work associates."

"The Mafia?" I asked.

He didn't answer.

There wa no telling what he was planning, or the Mafia, or the Grimms, but interests seem to be piling up over one another, and there was no telling who would come out on top.

The worst is, After that day, I regret to say that I met with at least one of the Grimms for the rest of my time in Yokohama. And it was even worse for Kyouka-ch

King Thrushbeard had a faint feeling that there was something he needed to do in another place, something important, but he pushed it aside, replacing it with the gnawing need to save Akiko, after all, what could be more important to a father than the health of his daughter?

Akiko had become so ill, that the doctor wouldn't allow any visitors to her room, not even the king himself was allowed to see his daughter.

Instead he had taken to pacing up and down the corridor outside her door, waiting for a sound or a move, just a sign of life, no matter how small.

It was eerie, the silence that reigned over the palace without Akiko merrily running around, playing doctor, beginning the servants to be her patients. And it scared the King, knowing that this terrible silence would reign if his daughter didn't make it, a frightening remainder of the laughter that used to fill the halls. He shivered at the thought, the truth was that Akiko took care of him most of the time; he'd had a childish personality all of his life, and he'd depended on his wife for a lot of things, like controlling his temper. He was terrified of what he'd become if left alone, a lazy king? A tyrant?

He heard the faint clicking of a knob turning and jumped towards the door.

It was just the doctor.

Behind him, he could see a small shape lying on the bed underneath a pile of blankets, and his heart leapt with a combination of happiness and grief. She was still there, but she wasn't herself at all.

"I'm afraid to inform you that the princess's condition hasn't improved, your majesty" The doctor looked at him solemnly, as if convinced his daughter was going to die.

"What do you mean?" The king could hear his voice raising, but felt incapable of stopping it. "Isn't it your job to make sure she gets better! What do I pay you for?!" Before he knew what he was doing, his hands were on the doctor's collar. At this distance he had a clear view of the scar on the doctor's face, it looked like a sharp slash, but also like a burn mark, and it was hard to think about a situation in which a doctor would receive such a wound.

"Let me reassure you sir, that I'm doing everything I can for the princess." The doctor seemed unfazed by the king's outburst. "But the situation is difficult, now if only we had…" He broke off mid sentence.

"If he had what?"

"Forgive me your majesty, I shouldn't have said anything?"

"If we had what?!" The king's fists tightened, clutching at the doctor's robe until his knuckles turned white.

"If we had the book, sir."

He released the doctor at once, hope surging through him. "This book." He said tentatively. "It can cure my daughter?"

"Yes." The doctor answered in a whisper. "It can cure of any illness."

"Where is it." His daughter could be saved. Akiko could be saved "How can I find it."

" It's in another realm, furiously guarded by a group that goes as The Armed Detective Agency." The doctor's mouth twitched into a momentary smile. "It would be dangerous, but if your majesty is willing to risk it, I know someone that could take you there."

Hello Internet! Shikkaku here.

Finally managed to upload a new chapter. Thank you for taking the time to read, and please give me some feedback.

Bye!!


	14. Chapter 14: open book

Chapter 14: Open book

Kyouka and her new "father" were living the good life. Their enormous european style house, which weirdly nobody in town remembered until everybody suddenly did, had an equally enormous and regal garden with plants that probably werent suited for the environment and yet managed to bloom in explosions of exotic colors and aromas. They also had a very big basement, where very bad things happened.

Kyouka sometimes saw the bodies, other times she just saw the traces.

All of the visitors always complimented "father"; his house, his work, his beautiful daughter. "How lucky you are." They all said. And she probably was, after all, orphans could do far worse on the street. But it was agony for her. The bed was so soft, that she felt it was swallowing her, her new kimonos, while still fiery red, were of materials so expensive that she felt guilty just breathing inside them, she was pretty sure some wee even embroidered with gold. They were pieces that belonged on a museum, not on her.

She was also given "casual" clothing. Skirts and pants and shirts and dresses of all kinds. Shed tried wearing them a couple of times, but the fabrics felt alien on her skin and the person who stared back at her didn't look like herself. She looked more like a child, almost innocent, and this lies she could not bear. Therefore, she decided to only use those clothes when instructed to.

A lot of things had changed, but the familiar weight of her cellphone remained a constant. Her lifeline and her prison, her defining trait.

She new Atsushi would be coming soon, but whether that was a good or a bad thing still remained to be seen.

All the visitors said they loved the smell of the flowers, how it seemed to envelope the whole house, but try as she might to find that beautiful aroma they spoke about, every time she breathed Kyouka could only feel the metallic stench of blood filling her lungs.

I wasn't sure where we were. but judging by Dazais weary smile it couldn't have been anywhere good.

Dazai paced back and forth, looking at the wooden clock every once in a while.

The place itself wasn't anything to be afraid off, as far as I could see it was just a small restaurant. I breathed in and the small of ramen made my stomach grumble. I could almost see the bowl; those noodles and the egg and the carefully sliced meat.

It probably wasn't the best time to be thinking about food, but things are what they are and I was hungry.

The clock ticked another quarter of and hour and Dazai sprang up to attention.

Not a minute had passed before the bell at the top of the door ringed, announcing a new costumer.

Dazai-san broke into a grin. "Chuuya" He called. "Come join us Chuuya!"

Chuuya?! Could he possibly mean…

The new customer stopped on his tracks, he hadn't even turned towards us but there was no mistaking him. Nakahara-san

"What are you doing here you maniac." His voice was strained with annoyance.

Another person entered behind him. Akutagawa-senpai. As soon as he saw me, Rashomon sprang to life, a sharp peak stopping just millimeters from my eye thanks to Dazai-San.

"Just wanted to catch up with my old colleague." Said Dazai-san nonchalantly. "And you even brought my former subordinate along. Isn't this a merry reunion?"

"Say, Akutagawa." He went on. "How's Gin?"

Akutagawa looked towards Nakahara-san, as if asking for permission to speak. Nakahara-san paid him no mind and continued to glare at Dazai-san. If they fought the whole joint would probably come crashing down on us.

I looked between Nakahara-san and Dazai-san, wondering if I was supposed to pick a side, or fight or just stay quiet.

"What do you want." Nakahara-san looked weary. "Dazai"

"This might seem out of character." He answered. "But I'm here to talk about a book. I'm sure weve all heard the same rumors"

All hostilities forgotten, we all sat down and ate ramen.

Kyouka knew what she had to do. She didn't know why, and she wasn't supposed to asked.

From her hiding spot, Kyouka could see the group eating ramen in an almost friendly fashion. Her stomach grumbled and she realized she was hungry.

She was hungry all the time lately, but whenever she had actual food in front of her, her stomach closed up and vile rose through her throat. She was aware of her thinning arms and the way her clothes were starting to fit loosely. She was also aware that her hunger was making her weak, which in her line of work meant death. She had tried to force herself to eat, but usually gave up in the middle of her endeavour. What was the point of continuing eating if she was just going to throw up anyway?

The man with the bandages, Dazai, stood up and stretched out. They were coming out.

She clutched the book, feeling her fingers cramp over it but unable to let go. If she lost it they were going to kill her.

Why father couldn't come and do the job himself was beyond her, the book probably wouldn't even work on her hands, but still, her instructions were simple.

Stand there, book wide open.

The small door's bell announced her target's exit. It was time to move.

"Dazai-san, are you sure that's a good idea?" In this situation, the Mafia had the upper hand. They already had an agreement with the Grimms, they already had access to the book.

Dazai-san's idea might have worked it only the Mafia were as desperate as the Agency was, but under the circumstances, the Agency was just an obstacle keeping them, keeping us, from controlling the city.

I shouldn't want to help the Agency, but I couldn't bare to watch them taken out one by one. Like Yosano-sensei

"I realize Nakahara-san and you have worked together before but there's no way they won't betray us."

"Betrayal." He repeated, turning to look at me. "If I think about it, everything started to go down after you got here"

Oh, saints.

He started laughing. "If I think about it, the signs were quite obvious"

I had been stupid. How did I ever think I could fool anybody?

"Atsushi-kun" He looked me in the eye. "I only ever referred to him as Chuuya."

 **Hello Internet!**

 **Shikkaku here, soldiering through my last semester of high school.**

 **I'm under a lot of stress but writing helps me a lot and I hope you guys get to enjoy these chapters as much as I do.**

 **Please comment. See you next chapter!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15: One Less Problem**

I had been so afraid to be found out from the very beginning that having it happen was somehow calming. I felt a huge weight lifted off my shoulders, even as my stomach went up in a knot.

It seemed so surreal that I almost couldn't register the situation. It was as if a stranger inhabited my body and I was seeing everything from the outside.

I was faintly aware of the shaking on my legs. Maybe I could conjure up an excuse, but it was too late. He wouldn't believe anything I said now. _He has no reason to believe me after all._

I had been lying from the very beginning, had brought destruction upon them. Dazai-san knee now, _finally_ , and I wondered how the whole thing would play out. Would we fight? _Useless_

Would I be killed? _Maybe_

Captured? _Possible_ Tortured? _Sounds about right_

How about the rest of the Agency? How would they react?

I remembered Yosano-sensei then. They way she had looked at me at the very end; disgust and pity curling her lip. Would they look at me the same way? I'd probably die of shame right there if they did, _when_ they did.

The worst (best?) part of it was that I had been found out, had given myself out, for a stupid mistake.

 _Nakahara-san_

Calling adults by their given names had always made me uncomfortable, and specially with someone who had given me so much, who had literally saved my life.

Still, I could've just as easily referred to him as Dazai-san's quote unquote former colleague, or even his _old friend_. But I'd done so out of habit.

 _Nakahara-san_

Just a word, _just a name_ , had been my perdition.

"That's right" I finally answered. "I've been with the Mafia all along."

 _I was with them when my leg was chopped off._

 _I was with them when they "kidnapped" me_

 _I was with them when they_ when we _killed Akiko Yosano-sensei_

And because I owed them my miserable life, I was with them till the very end.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Kyouka waited, unsure of when would be the right time to intervene.

If worse came to worst she would definitely defend her friend. He'd given her something greater than life, the chance to actually live.

So even if Kyouka has to disobey orders, she would jump right into battle to save her savior. It would be an easy choice. After all, she'd been punished before.

Her body ached with the memory of fire and knives on her skin. But she'd come out stronger, and so she would again.

She could see that Atsushi's legs were shaking, and her mind was screaming to go get between him and the bandaged man. She'd heard that he had to power to nullify abilities; it didn't matter, she had no control over hers. What she did have was fire in her veins, extensive training, a dagger and a purpose.

In the Mafia abilities meant a lot. They were status and power, but somehow that idea had always been a little surreal to her. From what she could see, only the weak depended so absolutely on a single skill.

Even if abilities did not work on this man, she was an assassin through and through.

Just as her patience was wearing thin and she was making up her mind to intervene, the signal came.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Kyouka moves like lightning. A blur of red and then she is standing right in front of you, or the man that was supposed to deal with you. She's dangerous.

She is fire.

But most importantly, she's putting herself in harm's way.

"I'm presuming this friend of yours and the senator are in on it too." Dazai-san said. It's not a question. And he didn't appear to be guessing. It was the truth, and he already knew.

"Get out of here Kyouka." I told her, but she was wearing her mask. Pulling her face into an expressionless doll and shutting out the world. This was Kyouka from the Mafia, not the little girl who liked rabbits and tofu and feared dogs. This was the assassin who had killed dozens of people in less than a year.

She didn't answer; didn't even looked at me.

"And what might your ability be?" Dazai-san asked. There were two of us, but he clearly didn't think of us as threats.

"I am fast." She answered. "I am deathly, I am precise. I have many abilities" "But if you´re asking about the superhuman then I am afraid I will have to disappoint you. Mine is an ability than will only show when allowed to come out.

"All I have is this book."

Dazai-san´s eyes went wide as he took in what Kyouka was holding.

"Say, little girl." He asked, clearly intrigued. "Is that _the_ book."  
Kyouka chan opened the book wide , waiting for something. But nothing happened, and things were starting to look bad for us.

Giving up, Kyouka reached for a dagger she was hiding, carefully as to never let the book close.

"Abilities don't work on him Kyouka-chan." I said, disappointed and happy at the same time. "But you should go, you can get away." After all, she was fast, deathly, precise. She was going to survive, and maybe someday master her own ability and get away from the mafia; make a life for herself. I smiled at her in what I thought was a reassuring way.

"Why won´t you trust father, Kyouka dear." _Is that?_

"Grimm" of course the brothers had something to do with this. They always did.

"Oh," he waved. "Hello, Atsushi-kun. You see, I gave Kyouka-chan clear instructions to hold up the book so I could come and do my thing."

Kyouka sprang back up and held the book fast. She looked tense.

"Are you the owner of the book, Mr Senator?" Asked Dazai-san, this time bracing himself for the fight. Kyouka and I might not be a threat to him, but this unknown man was a whole other story.

"Indeed I am, Mr Dazai." Grimm smiled. "would you like to see it in action."

But before he could answer, Dazai san was pulled inside the book with a force that made Kyouka-chan fall down.

"close it now dear." He instructed as she stood up.

"But how?" I asked. "Dazai-san nullifies abilities. This should be impossible."

He approached Kyouka, who went still and turned her face, shutting her eyes tightly, as if expecting to be struck for her disobedience. She received a pat on the head instead.

"My brother and I are not like the rest of you." He answered. "My family had been haunted by generations for the books. We did indeed write them, and they do possess an incredible power."

He started walking and Kyouka-chan and I immediately followed.

"This power however isn´t born from an ability." He continued. "harness the power of word. We are the creators.

"We Grimms hold the power of divine creation."

I didn't understand what he meant. but I let it pass, there were more pressing matter at hand after all.

"Is he okay in there?" I asked.

"It's just as when Kyouka-chan went in there. No harm will come to him. Believe me, Atsushi-kun, he´s never been better."

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 **This has been a long week (it´s only Wednesday but ok). Thanks for following me all the way to chapter 15. As always, feedback is not only welcome but encouraged.**

 **See you next chapter,**

 **-Shikakku**


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